The Chairman of the United States Army Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford, however, said he was not aware that any missiles were intercepted, adding that the military has yet to assess the operational data. General also confirmed that manned aircraft were involved in the airstrikes that hit three facilities in Syria that the US claims are part of its chemical weapons program, RT reports.

Washington and its allies unleashed the bombardment in the early hours of Saturday, April 14, in retaliation for the alleged chemical attack by the Assad government in the town of Douma, 10 kilometers from Damascus, last week.

Pres. Trump announces the U.S. will pull out of ##Syria and days later Syrian govt bombs women & children in an area of no strategic value so the whole world would bomb the hell out of Syria. It doesn't make any sense? Praying this doesn't start WWIII #SyriaStrikes#Damascus

The strikes were conducted before a team of investigators from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was due to reach Douma to determine whether the attack had indeed taken place.

Twice during a press conference on Thursday (12/04/2018) Merkel said that Germany’s military “will not participate in possible military actions” in Syria, but she underlined that Berlin supported the need to “send a clear signal that the use of chemical weapons” is unacceptable.

“Just doing nothing at all is also difficult,” the chancellor said, adding that if the US, the UK and France were to take military action, Germany would seek an assistance in nonmilitary actions.

Non-governmental organizations, including White Helmets, claim that chemical weapons were used in Douma, Eastern Ghouta, on April 7. According to the statement uploaded to the organization’s website on April 8, chlorine bombs were dropped on the city to kill dozens and poison other local civilians who had to be brought to hospital.

The United States, the UK and the allies opposing to President Bashar al-Assad will not support the reconstruction of Syria until there is a political transition “away from Assad,” British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said.

The “Friends of Syria” group, an alliance of mainly Western and Gulf Arab countries, met in New York on Monday, on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly at a time when the conflict in Syria, now in its seventh year.

“We believe that the only way forward is to get a political process going and to make it clear to the Iranians, Russians and Assad regime that we, the like-minded group, will not support the reconstruction of Syria until there is such a political process and that means, as Resolution 2254 says, to a transition away from Assad,” Johnson said.

Syrian President Bashar Assad believes that the inhabitant of White House plays the assigned to him role, and is not independent, the policy pursued by Donald Trump illustrates this observation. This statement Assad made during an interview with Indian journalists in Damascus, extracts from which were published by the Syrian authorities.

According to Assad, Trump does not make important decisions. “Trump swallowed most of his campaign promises and took a course 180 degrees opposite for what he promised,” the Syrian leader said.

Regarding the situation at home, Assad considers it has improved significantly compared to previous years. “Despite the fact that the West and its regional supporters continue to assist the gangs, the worst is behind us. (…) Gangs of terrorist groups are retreating, the territory they control is decreasing, ” he added.

“That’s why it is unrealistic and a complete waste of time to make an assessment of the American president’s foreign policy, for he might say something; but he ultimately does what these institutions dictate to him. This is not new. This has been ongoing American policy for decades.”

It does not make much sense to discuss the possible outcome of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s (pictured) first visit to Moscow, because the new US administration was not given an opportunity to work out their political strategy, or even modify the concept of the Obama’s administration. From the moment of the inauguration the inner political struggle took all the energy and resource, hardly leaving an opportunity to bring to live any of campaign foreign policy promises, including the alliance with Russia against international terrorism.

While eager to play the doves of peace, the Democrats intentionally pushed the Republicans into the role of demons of war. The first visit of #Hillary to Moscow with a ‘reset button’ was a sheer public relations operation, however it worked on global popularity of Obama’s administration, profiling him on long-term as Nobel peace prize winner. On contrary the faux pas of the missile offensive in Syria shapes the image of Trump as a hawk, representing the unpredictable punitive forces with tyrannic inclinations, ignoring the international laws. Rex Tillerson’s mission is defined and shaped by this spontaneous US offensive in Syria.

However the US military action in Syria by no means is a result of a profound political thought, neither a beginning of a new strategy, but a haphazard tactical move to distract attention from #russianconnectons scandal during the initial period of Trump’s presidency.

It seems that in the eyes of President Trump’s advises the offensive in Syria is about a creation of a backdrop to spoil the game of the Democrats, an answer to #russianconnections allegations. The allegations intensely undermining president’s Trump image in an attempt of the Democrats to win majority in the Congress in the future.

Tillerson’s call to Russians to abandon president Assad is largely a rhetoric exercise for a number of reasons, not the least an absence of an alternative – there is no opposition figure in Syria able to take the responsibilities, and enhance the reconciliation process.

The talks about dismissing Assad in military action in ‘regime change’ favorite US concept are even more surrealistic after the assassination of Libya’s leader colonel Gaddafi, whose death marked a beginning of an ongoing turmoil, transferring the entire country in a huge playground of jihadists. Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya – the US foreign policy has demonstrated an out of ordinary capacity to destroy, but not reconstruct. Subsequently in Kremlin there is an understanding of that ‘creative capacity’ of the US, and certainly there is no slightest desire to give up a secular ally as Assad, who was educated in London, to one of the so-called ‘moderate opposition’ bearded fanatics.

The decision of Kremlin to decline the meeting between Putin and Tillerson indicates the initial pessimistic modality of the talks in Russian foreign ministry, because in first place there is no political agenda or strategy. Today State Department activity is a hostage of the warfare the Democrats declared to the Republican president, rejecting to accept his power and the choice of American people.

Without any new doctrine, scattered in tactical moves the US administration is chosing for spectacular actions and loud declarations to disguise its huge problems at home. No one expects any results from Tillerson-Lavrov (illustration) talks: Russians will not bow to the US to retreat from the Middle East, leaving Assad to the wolves and Americans, stuck with home politics problems, will continue to use tactic of distracting of public attention from its interior weakness and failures by the belligerent rhetoric and operations, flexing steroid muscles of the military-industrial complex, – the true master of the game behind the scenes.

Dulce bellum inexpertis! *

(* War seems lovely to unexperienced, Latin)

Secretary Tillerson before meeting with FM Lavrov: Looking forward to an open exchange to better define the U.S.-Russia relationship. pic.twitter.com/pcWRIhyvnl